"Hello, I'm Harvey Milk, and I'm here to recruit you!"
8 out of 10
First of all, I just wanna say that I'm not familiar of the work Gus Van Sant. I know his works are usually not mainstream, but I have never seen his works before.
Before I watched this movie, the only thing I know about Harvey Milk is that he was a gay-activist living in the era of 70's, and that was about it. So I pretty much had no idea who this man was.
MILK, directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Sean Penn, is a movie about a gay-activist fighting for gay rights. His name was Harvey Milk. The movie takes place between the late 60's to 1978. He once said to Dan White - the man that shot him - "that it's not about jobs or rights, that it's their lives that they were and still are fighting for." Up to this day, he was considered to be a hero for many gay people and the gay community. His story inspired many people throughout the years. His story, touched me.
I'm gonna lay it out for you. Before I made this review, I googled Harvey Milk, and watched his interviews on youtube just to see how he was really like. I paid attention on little details, like his mannerisms, the way he talks, the way he sits, the way he laughs.
And then off to Sean Penn's performance as Harvey Milk. Throughout the movie, I wasn't even thinking that I was watching Sean Penn, it was like I was watching somebody else. After I saw the real Harvey Milk, then I knew that I was watching Milk himself, not Penn. It was such a great performance by Penn, he really disappeared in his character so well. He really captured the essence of Milk, and what made Milk, you know, Milk. And he didn't make Milk as that perfect hero, he made him as realistic of human being Milk was. Brilliant performance.
But I think I must give the biggest compliment to Josh Brolin as Senator Dan White. He gave a fascinating performance. Brolin doesn't make Dan White the evil villain, he gives us different aspects of White. I was rather sympathetic of his character, actually. Not that I'm justifying what he did, it's just that I think Josh Brolin gives us the non-stereotypical bad guy in this movie.
Emile Hirsch, as Cleve Jones, gosh this guy has talent! He completely went through it. I mean, I almost believed that he was gay!
James Franco deserves the credit too, as Milk's lover.
Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, James Franco - with a group of actors like that, you can never go wrong. A beautiful film, though not a masterpiece, but it is almost getting there. I was hoping I got more insights on Diego Luna's character though. I wasn't sympathetic enough with him. But still, a great movie. Worth the watch, unless you're not homophobic and ultra-conservative.
P.S. : Castro is the place where Milk started his campaign, and the place where all the gay people gathered to give support for him. In this movie, Castro is a major plot of the movie. Without Castro, this story couldn't be told. When I was about 9 or 10 years old, I always passed Castro, you know, just walking along the pavements, or going somewhere with my family. I always passed Castro. Too bad I didn't notice that it was an historical place :(
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